A cooler access control system locks a cooler when occurrence of an event is detected that requires limiting access to the inside of the cooler. Examples of such events include the loss of power to the cooler for a predetermined period of time, the opening of the cooler door for longer than an allowed time, the loss of functionality of a temperature probe and others. In an embodiment, a service mode is supported wherein the door is left unlocked despite the occurrence of such an event, to allow a stocker or other personnel to leave the cooler door open while stocking the cooler with product.

A safe for the storage of a valuable, such as a firearm. The safe has an imaging system that is used to scan a portion of a human in the near infrared spectrum to image blood vessels and determine if the image matches a stored image and thereafter effect unlocking of the safe. A manual override lock system is provided to manually effect unlocking of the safe.

A rotary latch assembly includes a latch release having a detent and a pawl that is rotatable relative to the latch release about a pivot axis. The pawl includes at least one catch for engaging the detent to releasably hold the pawl in a fixed orientation. At least two contact surfaces are offset from the pivot axis. At least one spring is mounted to the pawl. The pawl is rotatable relative to the latch release between a neutral orientation and at least one non-neutral orientation. The at least one spring accumulates a stored energy during rotation of the pawl toward the at least one non-neutral orientation in response to force applied to one of the at least two contact surfaces, and the spring releases the stored energy when force is removed from one of the at least two contact surfaces to rotate the pawl toward the neutral orientation.

A rotary latch assembly includes a latch release having a detent and a pawl that is rotatable relative to the latch release about a pivot axis. The pawl includes at least one catch for engaging the detent to releasably hold the pawl in a fixed orientation. At least two contact surfaces are offset from the pivot axis. At least one spring is mounted to the pawl. The pawl is rotatable relative to the latch release between a neutral orientation and at least one non-neutral orientation. The at least one spring accumulates a stored energy during rotation of the pawl toward the at least one non-neutral orientation in response to force applied to one of the at least two contact surfaces, and the spring releases the stored energy when force is removed from one of the at least two contact surfaces to rotate the pawl toward the neutral orientation.

A door assembly for an appliance includes a door frame configured to mount to a cabinet of the appliance and movable between an open position and a closed position. A catch mechanism can be provided within the door frame and configured to receive a latch projecting from the cabinet when the door frame is in the closed position.

A door latch for an electrical appliance includes a rotary gripper movably disposed between a gripping position and a release position with rotational displaceability and having a gripping mouth delimited between a pair of jaws. The rotary gripper is adapted to hold captive a striker in the gripping mouth for holding closed a door of the electrical appliance in the gripping position and to permit release of the striker for opening the door in the release position. The gripping position and the release position correspond to different rotational positions of the rotary gripper. A spring arrangement in the gripping position of the rotary gripper exerts on the rotary gripper a bias which counteracts a movement of the rotary gripper towards the release position. An opener mechanism for opening the closed door includes a movably arranged opening element separate from the striker and a drive unit for driving the opening element.

A cooler access control system locks a cooler when occurrence of an event is detected that requires limiting access to the inside of the cooler. Examples of such events include the loss of power to the cooler for a predetermined period of time, the opening of the cooler door for longer than an allowed time, the loss of functionality of a temperature probe and others. In an embodiment, a service mode is supported wherein the door is left unlocked despite the occurrence of such an event, to allow a stocker or other personnel to leave the cooler door open while stocking the cooler with product.

A container is disclosed that has a housing and a lid. The lid has a planar portion and a latch that is freely movable parallel to the planar portion of the lid. The latch has a retention feature and a first reference surface that is perpendicular to the planar portion of the lid. There is a latch mechanism coupled to the housing that has an engagement element configured to engage the retention feature of the latch and a first alignment feature having a first alignment surface. The first alignment feature is configured to laterally displace the latch in a first direction such that the first reference surface aligns with the first alignment surface when the lid is brought together with the housing with the fastener laterally displaced away from the engagement element in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction.

A container is disclosed that has a housing and a lid. The lid has a planar portion and a latch that is freely movable parallel to the planar portion of the lid. The latch has a retention feature and a first reference surface that is perpendicular to the planar portion of the lid. There is a latch mechanism coupled to the housing that has an engagement element configured to engage the retention feature of the latch and a first alignment feature having a first alignment surface. The first alignment feature is configured to laterally displace the latch in a first direction such that the first reference surface aligns with the first alignment surface when the lid is brought together with the housing with the fastener laterally displaced away from the engagement element in a second direction that is opposite to the first direction.

A magnetic lock has a magnetically operable latch having a magnetically repellable or attractable latch element. A magnetic operating device spaced from the latch has a first magnet with a respective magnetic direction and a second magnet with a respective magnetic direction. The first magnet is rotatable between a latched position with its magnetic direction generally parallel to and pointing oppositely to the magnetic direction of the second magnet for contracting a magnetic field formed by the first and second magnets, and a release position generally parallel to and with its magnetic direction pointing the same as the second magnet for extending the magnetic field to and repelling or attracting the latch element.